


Round and Round We Go

by gottacatchghosts (octolingkiera)



Series: half dead drabbles collector's edition [3]
Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: Angst, Bigotry?, Gen, Mentions of Death, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, repression?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-02
Updated: 2019-05-06
Packaged: 2020-02-16 00:51:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 2,015
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18680776
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/octolingkiera/pseuds/gottacatchghosts
Summary: Oneshot/drabble collection for Dannymay 2019. Fics may range from drabbles to fully fledged oneshots, a variety of genres, but probably always Danny-centric. No pairings, probably. Summary, genres, and characters will be updated/added as needed.Each new chapter has its own summaries.here we go again





	1. the other side

**Author's Note:**

> ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯ we’ll see how this goes lol

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Day 1. Crossing

Danny has mixed feelings about the Ghost Portal. On one hand, he thinks it’s super cool that they have a door to another dimension in their basement like it’s no big deal. On the other hand, the thing half killed him.

Thus, mixed feelings.

It’s been long enough now that Danny’s gotten completely used to his powers and he’d never wish to be rid of them now that he’s had them, but he doesn’t think the tingle of dread he gets from the portal will ever fully go away.

There’s something about the portal, besides the killing him part, that puts all of his senses on high alert whenever he goes near it. Crossing from the land of the living to the Ghost Zone always makes him feel… something. Whether it’s the electric buzz and hum of ectoplasm that’s always coursing through the artificial and permanent scar between dimensions or the leftover traumatic memories he formed inside of it, going through the portal always makes Danny hyperaware of himself in a way nothing else does.

The first time he passes through it, when his Dad accidentally jostles the Specter Speeder through the, at the time, doorless portal, he find he’s surprised that there’s a tunnel of sorts between the lab and the open air on the other side. He really shouldn’t have been, having become personally acquainted with the interior of the physical portal himself the day of The Accident, but he always kind of figured that the almost physical barrier of swirling ectoplasm that makes up the portal entrance would be like stepping through a door or into a pool. Pass through, and you’re there.

Danny has no idea what the space in between is called. Maybe it doesn’t have a name, maybe it does. He’s not going to ask his parents, obviously, because that would mean having to tell them about the whole Ghost things and that’s the last thing he wants to do.

Privately, Danny kind of calls it a graveyard for one.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> crossposted to tumblr [here](https://gottacatchghosts.tumblr.com/post/184591407821/the-other-side)


	2. acceptance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Day 2. Farewell

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Post Lunch Lady fight in Mystery Meat. this one’s really short but i still like it lol

Cleaning up the meaty mess that the Lunch Lady made gives him lots of time to think and consider and accept.

The thought comes to him slowly, naturally, that he’s saying farewell to the life he once knew. For the last month, Danny knows he’s run the gambit of the stages of grief and he feels like he’s finally hit that acceptance stage. Today’s fight with that ghost all but proves it.

Sure, it might be because he feels responsible for all the ghosts that make it to the real world since he was the one that actually turned the portal on, but that whole time, he was trying—and failing, miserably—to ignore that something about him had fundamentally changed and that things were never going to be the same again.

He has these ghost powers now. He’s not a normal human anymore. He thinks he’s finally ready to accept that.

Besides, when has his life ever been normal anyway? Growing up with ghost hunting ectologists for parents meant that ghosts have been a huge part of Danny’s entire life. Becoming a ghost himself was never planned for, but fighting ghosts? Capturing them in some crazy invention that somehow works? That’s just the family business.

So maybe Danny’s life _has_ changed in ways he couldn’t have possibly imagined, and maybe that means he’ll never live as normal human again. But he finds that maybe… he’s okay with that.

Farewell, normality. May we meet again someday.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> crossposted to tumblr [here](https://gottacatchghosts.tumblr.com/post/184619665436/acceptance)


	3. them vs us

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Day 3. Barrier

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this prompt is based on my Jump Start AU, and here’s the basics: danny turns half ghost at age 9, only his family knows about it, he's homeschooled until he's 14, the whole family ghost hunts together, except jack and maddie still dont really like ghosts. they also know about vlad 
> 
> warnings: bigotry? repression? angst lite? idk
> 
> thanks to Kiinotasha and LexiePiper on discord for looking this over!

Sometimes Danny feels like a stranger in his own home, like there’s a physical barrier between him and the rest of his family. His ghost powers separate him from his family in ways they can’t possibly understand, no matter how much they try, and the worst part is that they can _never_ understand.

It doesn’t help that his parents still have a “shoot first, ask questions later” policy when it comes to full ghosts.

He’s used to it by now, he really is, but the way his parents talk about other ghosts, ghosts that Danny has fought and talked to and gotten to know, it gets under his skin in ways he’s not comfortable enough to tell them about. Sure, he might still have a human body and life but that doesn’t change the fact that he’s still made of ectoplasm, even if it’s only part of the time.

Danny’s parents still hate ghosts even though he’s one of them. They insult and degrade ghosts with one breath and then tell him how proud they are of him the next. They don’t know what it does to him, to be both loved and hated all at once, to be stuck in the terrible halfway point between being human and the one thing that disgusts them.

So, he throws up his walls and shoves the hurt way deep down inside where he only has to drag it back out when Jazz decides that he needs another one of her therapy sessions. He’s fine, really, he doesn’t need help.

Danny likes to visit the Ghost Zone. He doesn’t tell his parents, so they don’t know. He hopes they never find out.

They wouldn’t approve, of course, but they would never outright say it. They never outright tell him that his being a ghost disturbs them, even though he’s sure it does. The overwhelming guilt they felt from his accident and the fact that they’d been the cause of the creation of two different half ghosts stills their tongues and hands from doing anything else they might regret later. They’re always so careful around him for one reason or another, but they’re callous and biased in any way that doesn’t immediately and directly link back to him and what he is.

The way they talk about what they want to do to the ghosts that attack the town only serves to further drive a wedge between Danny and his parents. When they go into Ghost Hunter Mode, he always has to squash down that instinctual, primal fear. Even their Scientist Mode is preferred because it’s usually more objective. He prefers their Parent Mode, of course, but he sees it less and less as he gets older.

But he’s used to it by now. He’ll deal with it. It’s fine. He’s fine.

Honest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> crossposted to tumblr [here](https://gottacatchghosts.tumblr.com/post/184642905131/them-vs-us)


	4. now you know why i’m failing biology

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Day 4. Ectoplasm

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> au I guess? idk, danny’s parents know he’s half ghost but nothing else is different lol

One thing that Danny’s learned since becoming half ghost is that ectoplasm isn’t like blood. It doesn’t flow or pool in and around wounds. It’s more viscous, more solid, more substantial. It doesn’t extract well, especially through small openings. Real, natural ectoplasm isn’t like the artificial, synthesized stuff used in his parent’s lab. They’re functionally the same, but they’re fundamentally different.

And there’s more than one type, though Danny doesn’t have much experience with anything except the basic stuff and whatever kind that he has, even two years after the accident. Frostbite tried to explain the different types to him once after their initial conversation about cores and _their_ types, since the two are related, but at the time, Danny was too concerned with mastering his new ice powers and worrying about his friends and family.

Something that Danny always heard growing up with ghost hunting parents is how humans and ghosts don’t mix. The two are made with such wildly different stuff that the human body rejects ectoplasm and ghosts just don’t _work_ with stuff like bones and blood and guts. He believed it, and saw no reason to think otherwise, until he turned the portal on and become half ghost himself.

One of the nice things about having his parents in the know about his powers now, is that, since the two are scientists, they can help him figure out some answers to some questions he’s wondered for a couple years now. The question he’s trying to answer today, is how much of him is made of ectoplasm.

“Excuse me?” Maddie asks when Danny proposes the question to them.

“I wanna try to figure out how much of a ghost I am,” Danny repeats, shrugging like it’s no big deal. “I know I have a human body when I’m not in my ghost form, but I can still use almost all of my powers, so I’ve always wondered where the line is drawn, or if there even is one.”

“Your molecular structure and body chemistry had to have changed for it to even be possible,” Jack posits, standing at Maddie’s side with a hand on his chin. “Humans don’t naturally produce ectoplasm and you have that ghost core thing you were telling us about, so there has to be _something_ different, physiologically.”

“Exactly. Plus, I still need to breathe and stuff as a ghost, so does that mean I still have blood? ‘Cause like. Oxygen to the brain and stuff, right?” Danny tilts his head, grimacing a little. “I don’t have a good grasp of regular biology, let along ghost stuff.”

“The human body is complex,” Maddie says, patting Danny on the shoulder, “so don’t feel too bad about not knowing everything. We used to think ghosts were much simpler, but since we’ve had to restart our research almost from scratch using the new information you’ve given us, we now know ghosts can be pretty complex too. It’s can’t be very simple to marry the two together into one person.”

Danny shrugs again, helplessly, and Jack claps him on the back, pitching him forward. “Not to worry, son! We’ll do some research, run a few tests—but only the ones you feel comfortable with!—and we’ll figure it out! Just wait and see!”

“It might take us a while though, sweetie. We have a lot to learn about _real_ ectology now,” Maddie tells him, already moving towards their research notes.

Danny gives his parents an honest smile, happy to see them so enthusiastic and accepting of his ghostliness. He brightens as an idea slowly forms in his mind, one that he thinks will be mutually beneficial. “You know, I have someone I’d like you to meet, actually. His name is Frostbite and he took care of me when my core was acting up. They have a pretty cool facility at the Far Frozen and I think he’d be happy to answer any questions you might have.”

Maddie and Jack perk up like excited puppies at the words and they beam at him, thrilled at the idea. Danny is too, if he’s being honest. There’s a lot he’d like to know about himself that he has no way of knowing, but he’s excited to finally find out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> crossposted to tumblr [here](https://gottacatchghosts.tumblr.com/post/184662254136/now-you-know-why-im-failing-biology)


	5. sometimes i want to leave (but my duty drags me down)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Day 5. Sunset

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this has nothing to do with dp, but ive been watching a lot of moomins lately and so I feel like this fic is inspired by snufkin. Enjoy lol
> 
> this one is a lot shorter than i thought it would be, and a couple hundred words shorter than i’d like but it works lol

Some days Danny wishes he could just fly off into the sunset, drifting along without a care to wherever the wind takes him. It would be hard to leave home, sure, but he thinks he could do it, even if only for a little while. It’s good to have some space once in a while, and everyone needs to be alone every now and again.

Sometimes he feels trapped. Trapped in this town, trapped by responsibility, occasionally even trapped by his human life, though it might be more that he feels trapped by his secrets. Everything is the same, day after day, week after week, and a small part of him yearns for something different, something that isn’t the precarious balance that is his life.

No matter how much he wants to, he can’t.

He’s not like Danielle, free to go where she pleases because she has no ties to anyone or anything. He has to be here, with his friends and his family and his superhero gig, because if he left, they would worry. He doesn’t want to worry anyone, doesn’t want to upset them, and so he fits a lid over his feelings and pushes them away, to the farthest and most distant corners of his mind.

And so, Danny watches the sunsets and dreams of adventures beyond his normal life and of stakes no lower than what he’s going to have for dinner, and though he doesn’t much care for camping, he imagines sleeping under starry skies would be a wonderful thing indeed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> crossposted to tumblr [here](https://gottacatchghosts.tumblr.com/post/184689023366/sometimes-i-want-to-leave-but-my-duty-drags-me)
> 
> my titles are getting artsy wtf

**Author's Note:**

> i dont expect to keep this up daily, but i'm gonna Try lol


End file.
